An Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century Oddity: The It-narrative Genre

Bryant Conference Center

Instructor: Chris Douglas - One of the narrative tools to come out of the early development of the novel was the it-narrative, or stories that were told by a non-human narrator. These narrators took the forms of coins, banknotes, thimbles, sofas, dogs, kittens and horses. In fact, one of the most popular novels in English is an it-narrative, Anna Sewell's Black Beauty (1877), which is narrated by the horse itself and has sold over 50 million copies since it was originally published. This course will explore this strange genre, as it began in the 18th century as satirical fiction for adults, through its transformation into the 19th century as sentimental and instructional fiction for children, all the way into the early 20th century as a part of the early animal rights movement. This course will involve some reading outside of class, but not of novel-length pieces.